Superman Returns: Flight of the Sun
by Rainbow Magic Girl
Summary: Risa Redlark is a reporter at the Daily Planet. Four years after he left, a meteor crashes to Earth. It turns out it isn't a meteor at all, but an alien ship who has chosen Risa to become one of the Flares - a group of do-gooders from different alien races. She becomes their latest recruit, Sunburst and must learn to trust in herself.
1. Chapter 1

Superman Returns: Flight of the Sun

Chapter 1: A case of curiosity

**Author's Note: This will not be updated regularly, as I am focusing on both a Mario story and a Doctor who story, and revision for upcoming exams. I have recently watched the film Superman Returns (and before you ask, I have watched the 1978 one as well), and this is my take on it, but featuring an OC that is a female hero. The first few chapters are set a year before Superman Returns.**

**Disclaimer: DC Comics own Superman and all characters related. I only own my three OCs.**

_**On the doomed planet Krypton, a wise scientist, Jor-El, placed his infant son, Kal-El, into a spacecraft and launched him to Earth.**_

_**Raised by a kind farmer and his wife, the boy grew up under the name of Clark Kent, and became our greatest protector...Superman.**_

_**But when astronomers discovered the distant remains of his home planet, Superman disappeared.**_

_4__th__ April, 2005_

A young woman with reddish-brown hair walked out of the Daily Planet, her phone to her ear, talking to her friend. She laughed at her friends comments.

"I defiantly agree. I'll see you at the apartment."

"Yeah, see you."

Risa Redlark finished the conversation and began walking home to the apartment she shared with her childhood friends, Mina Smith and Charlie Jenkins. On some days she felt lucky to have them, on others, she wanted to tear her hair out with frustration.

The reporter only had four friends. Jimmy Olsen, who also worked at the Daily Planet, had practically been her friend the moment she walked through the door eight years ago. He could be a little (a lot) over excitable, but he was a likable guy. Her other friend had the opposite personality of Jimmy.

Clark Kent wasn't much of talkative guy, and sometimes he could be awkward. Despite that, Risa had still managed to become his friend – in fact, the two got along great. But then he had left – without a word. She hadn't heard from him for four years, and she had wanted to ask him something, but never got the chance. She didn't even know if she would see him again.

She put all thoughts of her friend out of her mind, and continued home.

When she got in the apartment, Mina was already there, watching the news. Charlie was reading one of her favourite books.

"Hey, guys." Risa said.

"Hi." Charlie replied.

"Good day?" Mina asked.  
"I guess so; so, anything good on the news?"

"Ah, just the usual – crimes, celebrities, all that crap. There wouldn't even be crimes if Superman was around, but he left us." Mina complained.

"I'm sure he had his reasons, Mina." Risa countered.

"Is there anything interesting on the news?" Charlie piped up.

"Only this meteor that's set to pass by Earth. It's been jamming up satellite signals and mobile phone signals." Mina added.

"Is it passing by tonight?" Risa asked.

"Yeah, apparently it glows yellow."

"Let's hope it doesn't crash, then." Charlie said jokingly.

Risa rolled her eyes and started with dinner. It was a girl's night out tomorrow – they would need the strength for whatever they would get up to. Their previous girl's night outs had consisted of late night shopping, the cinema and/or clubbing. Risa would always hope they would get back before midnight, but that happened very rarely.

As they sat eating their pizza, Risa's thoughts once again drifted to Clark. If or when he got back, she would have to ask him – Risa observed people, so she was sure of her answer. In all honesty, she wondered how no-one else had worked it out – maybe people were just thick.

"Stop thinking about your boyfriend!" Mina blurted out.

"...I don't have a boyfriend." Risa said.

"You know who I mean – Clark Kent."

"He's not my boyfriend, as you full well know." She pointed out.

"He's been gone for four years. If either of you two went away for that long, I'd still think about you." Charlie put in.

Mina scoffed.

"I'm not sure we could say the same about you, Mina Olivia Smith." Charlie added. Mina looked offended.

"Thank _you_ – nice to know you think so highly of me."

"That's okay."

Some things never changed in four years.

That night, they would. That night, something would happen that would change everyone's life forever.

They had gone to bed by then and the night was quiet. Risa was looking out of the window, not really paying attention to it.

Suddenly there were screams, and she looked down. People were running and panicking, pointing at the sky. Risa opened the window to get a better look.

It was the meteor – glowing yellow and heading towards the nearby park.

_Holy shit._

"Mina, Charlie, wake up now."

"What?"

Risa pointed out of the window, and her two friends peered out.

"Oh my god!"

"Shit!"

By all means, they should be running, but Risa felt she had rubbed off on her friends enough for them to know that wasn't the best course of action.

So they watched as it crashed.

A normal meteor would cause a shockwave that would kill thousands of people, but from where Risa was standing, she could see that only the nearby trees were affected. This got her attention.

"I thought it would cause more destruction than that." Mina said, voicing her friend's thoughts exactly.

"Which means it isn't a meteor." Charlie realised.

The three friends exchanged a look – they knew what this meant.

"Come on then – time to get down there and see."

And so they went.

They had no way of knowing that decision would be life-changing.

**End of Chapter.**


	2. The Flares recruit Risa

Superman Returns: Flight of the Sun

Chapter 2: The Flares meet Risa

**Author's Note: Enjoy this chapter, and thanks for the reviews. In this chapter, Risa's life changes forever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Superman. I only own Risa, Mina and Charlie (and of course the Flares).**

Risa knew they had to get there fast, before the police came and stopped people approaching it. They really shouldn't be approaching it themselves, but the three friends had always harboured a curiosity for events like these – even at this ungodly hour.

It took Risa, Mina and Charlie five minutes to get to the park, and when they did, there was already a few people wandering towards it.

It being the object that crashed – and it seemed they were right before.

It wasn't a meteorite, but a large sphere that glowed yellow. There was a visible door, and a strange symbol carved on the side of it. It looked almost like a...an alien spaceship. That would be ridiculous, but it seemed the only logical explanation.

"What the hell is that?" Mina hissed.

"I don't know." Risa said.

They went to the edge of the crater, staring down the object.

"Should we go down?" Charlie asked.

"Are you crazy? The crater is, like, 10 feet deep!" Mina shrieked.

"I can manage it." Risa assured them.

"No – if you go down, we're coming with you!" Charlie insisted. Risa knew there was no changing the minds of her friends.

She looked down as the three of them crouched down by the rim.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay then…three…two…one…go!"

They pushed themselves forward. Risa was the first to go down, getting tears in her clothes, and likely to have several bruises in the morning. She stopped just before she crashed into the object/spaceship.

"I…am _never_…doing that….again!" Mina groaned, picking herself up off the ground, Charlie doing the same.

"Yeah…me neither."

The ship – Risa was now convinced it _was_ a ship - was truly a sight to see up close. It wasn't yellow at all, but a pale orange with a dark orange streak through it, with intricate patterns covering it, along with a shiny surface; and it was strange, but Risa had a feeling that it wasn't a crash at all, but that it had landed here on purpose.

Without thinking, she stretched out a hand towards the surface.

"Don't!"

Risa jumped.

"Gee, Charlie, it can't be that dangerous." She told her friend.

"You don't know that – we have no way of knowing where this came from, or why it's here. It obviously isn't a meteorite like NASA thought it was." Charlie countered. Risa had to admit she had a point.

"Maybe we should leave it to the police, or the military." Mina added.

"What would _they _do with it? They could open it up and find nothing inside it, or use it for their own purposes. Besides, I'm only going to touch it – I'm not going to attempt to get inside it. Look-" Risa said, when she saw her words had little effect, -"I appreciate your concern, and you could be right, but we came down here to investigate – what happened to your sense of curiosity?"

Mina gave a grin.

"I know, but I'm just worried what will happen."

"I'll be fine!" Risa insisted, before placing her palm on the ship.

Instantly, her hand felt warm, and the ship glowed brighter a little more. This didn't frighten her, but what happened next certainly did.

A face appeared on the surface – a female with golden hair, and a red mask. The skin colour was obscured by the shine of the object. She gave a small smile to Risa.

_Hello, Risa Redlark._

Risa jumped back as she heard the voice in her mind – that had scared her, and Risa wasn't scared often.

"What is it?" Mina asked worriedly.

Risa could easily have told them the truth, but her friends might not believe her, and they might worry about her. She knew what she saw, but it might sound a bit strange.

"Oh, it just flashed all of a sudden – I was startled." She lied.

"I see-!"

Whatever Mina was going to say was interrupted by a rumbling. The girls were thrown off their feet as the ground shook beneath them, and Charlie cried out. Looking up, Risa saw that the ship was rising. The glow had grown brighter, and there was a humming as it took off, leaving the three friends in the midnight.

As they picked themselves up off the ground, Risa was still thinking about the face she saw, with only one question going through her mind – who was she?

Her two friends were pretty spooked out.

"Can we go home now? I want to get back in my bed and forget about all this." Mina said, a frightened look in her eyes.

"Yes – I think that would be the best course of action." Risa said. She, along with her friends, scrambled out of the crater and set off back to their apartment – they needed a rest after that.

-x-

Mina and Charlie were back in their beds, sound asleep – only Risa remained awake. If she hadn't been, events might not have gone so fast. But she was awake.

That was why she saw the flash of light in the next room. The door was closed, but she was still startled by the sudden, quick brightness. Half curious, half scared, she got out of bed and up to the door, hand hesitating over the handle. Anything could be behind that door.

Curiosity overtook that fear. She opened the door – and the first thing she noticed was that there was a glowing yellow portal in the middle of her living room.

"What the hell?"

"Hello, Risa Redlark!"

She turned to see...well, she couldn't really see the person standing before her – even the glow from the portal didn't reveal much about the figure. But she recognised the voice – it was the one that had spoken to her telepathically earlier.

"W-Who are you? Why are you in my apartment?" Risa demanded.

"I understand you have many questions, but I can explain once we get there." The female said.

"Get where?"

"Back to the ship, of course."

Risa gave a scoff.

"What makes you think I'm going to follow a potentially dangerous alien into an unknown craft?"

"What does your instinct tell you?"

Her instinct...Risa often relied on instinct, and her instinct was telling her to trust the strange alien being in her living room. There was no reason not to – the alien seemed to be unarmed.

"I'll trust you, for now." She cautiously told the alien, who laughed.

"I guess that's better than no trust at all. Come on – we won't be long, so you'll come back in time for your friends."

Then the alien stepped through the portal. Risa thought about this again – did she _really _want to follow an alien through a strange portal, with no way of trusting her other than her instinct. But Risa was often one for adventure, and she went through the portal.

It was kind of a soothing feeling, and she felt a bit more relaxed when she got out the other side. The inside of the ship was a pale yellow, which, like everything connected with it, was glowing softly. There only seemed to be the two of them on it.

"Well, now that we're here, I think you deserve an explanation on who we are." The alien said.

Risa could get a proper look at her now. Like she had seen on the surface of the ship, the alien had golden hair, and a red mask. Her ears were pointed. She wore an orange top and leggings, with dark boots and a strange symbol on both the boots and the top. Her skin, however, was what stood out most about her – it was a sort of faded turquoise.

"My name is Jem'Le of the Gettian race, and I am a member of the Flares." She started.

"Flares?" Risa asked.

"The Flares is the name given to a group of beings from different races. Many thousands of years ago, members of the ancient race of the Uia decided there was too much evil in the universe. They decided to form a group that would be dedicated to fighting evil on different planets – using an ancient rock that drew power from both their triple suns, and the ability to trust, they sent out ships to many different planets in many different galaxies. They chose members according to how much potential they showed. The members would then be bestowed a portion of the power of the rock, which would give them abilities to fight the evil in their world.

For generations, the Flares have been fighting evil, and even discovering new planets. This is our first time on Earth." Jem'Le explained.

Risa took a moment to process that.

"So, a group of do-gooders from different races decide to come to Earth...to choose a member?"

Jem'Le nodded.

"But Sup-!" Risa started to say.

"But Superman already fights evil in this world. I am aware of Kal-El and what he has done for this world. I am also aware that he left four years ago." Jem'Le stated.

"Y-Yes." Risa said.

"A world can have more than one hero. One of our planets can have up to three Flares – that has been the case several times over the generations." Jem'Le told her.

Suddenly, everything came together, and Risa's eyes widened.

"You want me to join the Flares!"

"We have seen potential in you."

Risa fumbled for an answer.

"B-But I can't be one of you. I have a job at the Daily Planet, they'll notice if they suddenly go off to fight criminals. Besides, I've never fought crime in my life – I don't know if I'll be able to do it."

"If you do it discretely, or find an excuse to leave the Daily Planet, I'm sure you'll pull it off. As for your skills – I was assigned to be your mentor."

It was a lot for Risa to take in – the fact that she had been chosen to be part of a group of _aliens _who went around helping people was a huge thing. The fact that she was worried about how she would pull it off – surely she should not want to do it at all.

"What was it you said before, about trust?"

"Tell me, Risa, do you trust in yourself? Do you trust in others?"

"I do trust others, and I do trust in myself."

"You only trust in yourself a little bit," Jem'Le said, seeing through Risa's lie.

"Do you think you can learn to trust yourself more?"

These were big questions.

"I...I don't know."

Jem'Le looked at her.

"I am going to ask you once; do you accept and join the Flares?"

Risa didn't know. It wasn't easy to answer, and she didn't know what would happen if she did join. She supposed she would have to lead a double life, but could she handle the responsibility? The pressure?

But despite this, Risa had always wanted to help people. She loved being a reporter, but sometimes she wished that she could actually go out there and help. She could stop these crimes going on. Besides, the Flares seemed friendly enough – or she hoped they all were anyway. She knew her answer.

"I accept."

Jem'Le gave a proper smile then.

"Excellent – we start work tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?"

"Well, you don't want to train without proper sleep now, do you?"

**End of Chapter**

**I hope you enjoyed this one. In the next chapter, Risa gets her costume, gains the power of the Flares, and fights her first few criminals as her new name.**


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